u/RunningLikeAPlover

Hey all, just completed my seventh session and my technician has advised me to potentially look into other options to fully remove a black ink tattoo that has a fair amount of scarring, apparently from the tattoo itself, not the removal process. I believe one of the suggestions she referenced was microdermabrasion, which seems both expensive and painful. There were a few other options that were suggested but I don’t recall them off the top of my head. Currently using a Picoway laser.

The other option she recommended was to keep going for partial removal, and once it’s way more visibly faded, get whatever remains covered up with flesh-colored ink. That sounds a lot more within my budget, especially because the removal itself is already costing me a pretty penny.

For context the healing process has been completely painless. I ice it intermittently for 24 hours after every appointment and put a thin layer of Aquaphor on after that if it gets red and/or itchy. The redness/itchiness only lasts for a few days and then it feels fine. It’s in an area that is almost never exposed to sun (on my butt lol). I stay hydrated and eat as decently as I can to help move it along.

So basically as the title says: Anyone have experience with a flesh-colored coverup for tattoos with excessive scarring? If not, are there any options I can pursue that would get me the full removal effect I’m looking for? TIA!

There once was a shah of Iran
Who did 20 years in the can
Don’t be a fag
Or then you’ll sag
His estimation of you as a man

I’m revisiting the anime for the first time in a decade after spending my whole childhood/adolescence with it. I remember in my (pre) teen years, I was irritated by Kagome so much. I found her shrill, whiny and unbearable. Of course, with age I’ve seen things much differently, and now? I’d take a bullet for Kagome Higurashi.

The biggest blind spot I had at a younger age was the fact that Kagome, for all intents and purposes, was still a child. Cultural norms and attitudes in Japan differ from the west, but in the grand scheme of things, 15 years old really isn’t that old. Especially for young girls, who are so often robbed of their innocence by patriarchy as a system and the men in their individual personal lives. The moment Kagome fell down the well, she was forced to grow up quickly. She went from worrying about teen things like homework and boys to having to labor for her life in an unfamiliar time full of scary situations. She was a young girl who unwillingly found herself in feudal Japan, that’s intimidating enough. Mix that in with the fact that she learned she’s the reincarnation of an ancient priestess and has a highly coveted relic inside her body, that’s a frightening amount of revelations to experience all at once.

Then of course, there’s the whole running joke of the nonstop “INUYASHA! KAGOME!” screams in the whole series. I still get a good chuckle out of it because of the classic anime melodrama. But in hindsight, I see why she got so attached to Inuyasha’s protection and care. They constantly argued and butted heads, but she eventually realized that he’d protect her instinctively. It may have been selfishly motivated at first, but he kept her alive during those, early, scary moments, before she knew how to fight for herself. His strength empowered her to channel her own, and by the end of the series, she’s much more adept, skilled and clever in battle and conflict resolution. I used to see her as a Mary Sue who constantly needed him to rescue her, but over the course of the series, I now see her growing right alongside him into a courageous, resilient young woman.

I think the thing that irritated me the most was how jealous she got of Kikyo (I was a InuKikyo shipper back in the day). But now I am firmly on Kagome’s side. She’s alive, not embittered by the past, willing go to the ends of the earth for him, and despite all this, he still goes running back to Kikyo. I’d be pissed off too if the person I’ve got feelings for kept running back to their ex who pierced them with arrows and pulled a knife on them.

All this to say that I have a completely new perspective on Kagome as an adult. Call it a mix of internalized misogyny and a lack of maturity, but seeing her with new eyes at 30 years old, she’s an incredible character. It took me years to realize but better late than never!

I am six sessions deep with Removery to get a black ink text tattoo fully lasered off my butt. After a few months of lurking on this sub, I’ve gleaned that the majority opinion on Removery is generally negative. However, I have had positive experiences, so I wanted to share them and offer a different perspective.

I have 14 tattoos in total, and I still like or love all of the others except the one I'm getting removed. I got it almost a decade ago with old friends who also got butt tattoos. We thought it was the funniest thing ever at the time. However, most of us have fallen out of touch since, and I no longer find it amusing, perhaps even embarrassing. A Removery location opened up in my neighborhood and I bit the bullet on Labor Day Weekend last year when they offered a discount on unlimited sessions. Their financing plan was more than fair and the consultation was really helpful. I was able to ask questions and get my concerns addressed in advance. Their techs were incredibly nice and nonjudgmental, especially because I’ve been very bashful about this piece for years. I’m sure they’ve seen a lot worse.

The sessions are quick and easy to manage logistically, and the aftercare instructions are straightforward. Maybe it’s my circumstances of having an older black ink tattoo, but I’ve noticed a good amount of fading already and it’s quite promising. My next session is in two weeks, and I try to take eight week gaps between each session. I'm really satisfied with the progress and quality of service.

That said, my experience is just one of many, and it's not the same for everyone. I guess each is different based on our bodies and overall health. But I haven't seen many posts about positive experiences there, so I just wanted to share mine.

Long story short is that my 7-year relationship ended in February. She cheated on me with her best friend, lied to my face about it, and after I found out and was absolutely sick with heartbreak, she shared my volatile trauma responses (in the form of relaying full details of conversations and sharing screenshots of texts) to blame-shift and make me look ridiculous and crazy in the eyes of her friends/family, and didn’t defend me towards their mockery and judgment whatsoever. It was absolutely the lowest point of my life and it took me so long to actually work up the strength to leave, but I don’t regret my decision one bit and have been raising myself from the literal ground up since then.

She moved out of our apartment a week after I initiated the breakup. We had planned for her to do it in phases so it didn’t overwhelm her, and she would be fully moved out by the end of the month, absolute latest. One day when I returned to my hometown to give her space while she started the process, she vanished into the night without any formal goodbye or acknowledgement. The only thing she told me was that she was fully moved out and left her keys under the door. 7 years together and she couldn’t even look me in the eye one last time. Anyway, that soured any hope I had of reconnecting, and we’ve been NC since.

What is completely fucked up is that I’m still paying the price for her incompetent avoidant behavior. You’d think after such a cold, unceremonious exit she’d want to do whatever she could to cut ties. Wrong. Every day when I open my mailbox, I find letters addressed to her. After five fucking months of NC. Since April, when it was clear she hadn’t taken the literal five minutes it takes to fill out a mail forwarding or change of address form, I started returning them to USPS and writing “NO LONGER LIVES HERE - MAIL TO [her address]” on the envelope. I’m not her fucking secretary and setting up mail forwarding for her is technical mail fraud, a felony.

It’s inconvenient and annoying, but it’s more of the fact that every single fucking time a letter addressed to her lands in my inbox, I have to deal with seeing her name and be reminded that she used to live here and desecrated the home we built together.

I’m going to keep sending her mail back until she takes the hint. It’s a direct consequence of her own cowardice and it’s her problem now.

Hi all, figured I’d try posting in this sub - I have two tickets to Mets Pride at citifield in section 520 for tonight. My friends bailed on me and I still wanna go but don’t want these seats to go to waste. There’s a pre-game drag show and free swag for the first 15,000 people. DM me if you’re interested!

Hi all! I have two tickets to Mets Pride night at citifield vs the Phillies today. Two of my friends bailed on me and I still really wanna go, but don’t want these seats to go to waste. They’re in section 520, and there’s a pre-game drag show and free swag for the first 15,000 people. DM me if you’re interested!!

Hey all, looks like my two friends might bail on me for Pride Night, and I don’t want them to go to waste. They’re in Section 520. Drop a comment or send a DM if you’re free tonight and want to lock them in!

Total BEC moment - but I just remembered that episode of Culturistas where Bowen describes the backlash to Ariana/Ethan’s affair as “unqueer, puritanical, and Christian.” It got my blood pressure up as soon as it came to mind lol.

The audacity to suggest that visceral distaste for betrayal and destruction of a family…is somehow anti-LGBTQ…is beyond me. How does the logic even apply to a straight relationship? It makes no sense. Nothing about cheating is inherently queer or whatever. People are poly all the time and they have success with it because they have to be mature, responsible people with healthy boundaries and strong communication skills. The problem is when you say you’re monogamous, just be fucking monogamous. Don’t be a coward and go behind your partner’s back.

This is a man in his 30s who’s “never been in a serious relationship” by his own admission, and yet he feels cocky enough to kiss Ari’s ass by throwing a heartbroken, traumatized woman under the bus. He could’ve easily just said “I’m not in their relationships, it’s their business, Ariana is my friend and I support her,” and while it’s still a moral side-eye from me, at least he’s honest about it.

Never liked Bowen much anyway but this sealed the deal for me. Classless behavior. Just another one of her many enablers.

S3E4 is an incredibly uncomfortable watch (I always skip over the assault) but that last scene is one of the best in the series. You can see the gears moving in Melfi’s head as she ponders whether to tell Tony about her rapist or not - knowing full well he could have him dead by the end of the day - and at the last second, she doesn’t go through with it. Just like her dream, she has an attack dog in her corner, but this time won’t give him the command to lunge.

Maybe she realizes that getting his help would put her in his world and she’d be indebted to the mob, costing her entire conscience. Maybe she didn’t want to role reverse their relationship by asking Tony to rescue her and slay the monster, which would undermine her authority and negatively affect his treatment under her care. In any case, she acted with ethics and integrity in a way that is perfectly aligned with her character. In almost any other show they’d give in to the cheap feelings of revenge that viewers wanted.

Fantastic writing and breathtaking performances from Lorraine and James here. My estimation of Jennifer Melfi as a woman just fucking ascended

My finances have been pretty tight lately. I recently broke up with my long-term partner and have been paying for all of my housing expenses on my own. I also have/had some trips and other fun things planned (pre-breakup) that are a bit costly, so I've been spending quite a bit.

My credit score has dropped from 720 to 671 since March. I have a Visa and Amex. I never go past the limit (Amex doesn't have a pre-set limit) and autopay the full statement balance every cycle. My Visa is over 10 years old and my Amex is relatively new. I got it last summer. I also pay my rent, utilities and bills each month.

Credit Karma says that my utilization is poor. My Amex statement last month was nearly $3k, and I paid it off in full. I've been trying to split payments between both cards so I'm not overloading one or the other. Sometimes I break the payments up into two so I can have enough money in hand during the week. The other day, as soon as the payment was deducted from my checking account, my score dropped another 18 points.

What exactly am I doing wrong here? It's so frustrating. If I use the cards too much, I'm punished. If I'm not using them enough, I'm punished.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Title basically, it’s one of my favorite songs of all time (hence my username). I know the demo is on the Carrie & Lowell 10th anniversary vinyl, but is there a 7” out there perhaps?